Thursday, December 30, 2010

I quit beer for 2010. A year of hard liquor has done me well. I've found a new appreciation for whiskey - although I can't say the same for much else. I am Irish after all though.

I also quit the Beatles, which was good, cos I am sure I'll appreciate them much more now.

Unfortunately, looking at my Last.fm most listened to chart for 2010 I'm still listening to a lot of old bands. But then again mainly their new albums, so that's probably OK (I won't consult my inner-conscience, too afraid of what it has to say).

On the plus side my 10th most listened to album was Homocide Indonesia's The Nekrophone Dayz, which is all about Indonesian genocide in the sixties (an antidote to too much of The Beatles over the years?) and then there's Kill The Moonlight by Spoon. I haven't the foggiest who Spoon are, so that has to be good, they got be sorta indie-edgey-cool if I have listened to them for a year and still couldn't name a single song, eh?

I quit Facebook last year. Not as a new year resolution, but after a realisation that no one had much interesting to say. It's also refreshing not having someone Facebook you and dispel any mystery when they realise that yes, you too look stupid when drunk.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

I remember during the first trip to Indonesia, thinking that this country is about as alien as I could imagine. I couldn't wrap my head around it.

Not only was it alien however, it was hospitable, my then girlfriend's family bowled me over with how welcoming they were.

Back then, I didn't go anywhere without someone chaperoning me around the Big Durian. The girlfriend left me a year or so after, but my interest in Indonesia grew, so I figured I needed to cut my own way through the country (however clumsily).

Still after all these years, there are some circles I can't square. Perhaps they don't need squaring.

For example, while for the most part I feel quite at home nattering with pals who wouldn't touch alcohol, and sometimes think about whether something or other is compatible with their religion. I wonder how they would fit in back in with my pals in our godless, alcohol swilling New York.

I remember on that first trip to Indonesia, we were staying at a pal's big house in Jogja. I was pretty indignant at not being able to sleep with the girl I had been living with for a year. Moreover, I thought the little pullavah over not seeing a jilbabed guide's hair a bit stupid.

Sometimes on that trip I felt arrogant at times, feeling that I knew better than Indonesian people. Perhaps confusing wealth or might with right. I confess I still feel this sometimes, but less often.

In any case, I wonder what would happen if the Indonesia and New York side met? They'd probably get on like a house on fire!

The Irish ambassador to several countries including Indonesia is in Jakarta today.

Hopefully he can rake in some Rupiah on behalf of Ireland - I never thought I'd be saying that!

Recently, I have been thinking a about Ireland's economic predicament.

I have heard a lot about impending mass migration out of the country. It is a lamentable situation.

But, I always thought the Ireland I grew up in, the successful brash Celtic Tiger Ireland was too insular. That's not unusual - you learn from your mistakes not your successes.

For example, I remember when I was in college in Germany, how I thought that while many of my fellow students came from poorer countries across the world they had much richer educational experiences in Germany than my school classmates that mostly went to college at home.

I had chosen to study in Germany on a whim; most of my international classmates were forced to study in Germany because of the woeful level of education at home.

Perhaps that's a silver lining, however sad it is that a generation of Irish people will end up living in foreign lands, many of them will lead richer lives, experiencing and learning more of the world than they ever would have if they had stayed at home.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Walking past the subway turnstiles, a pal asked did you see that mother and child standing either side of the barriers?

In New York for 89 bucks a month you get unlimited rides. Actually they are limited in one way, you have to wait 18 minutes between swiping your card through the turnstiles. I've been caught out by this a few times.

In any case the mother and daughter were waiting 18 minutes until they could go on their way together.

Monday, September 20, 2010

On 20 September 2010 20:03, John Orford wrote:B&H weren't much help, too big, scale guy was clueless - and initially guffawed at me bringing the thing back after so long. I said I thought they repaired cameras and only wanted some idea of my options. He did recommend going across the street to a camera repair shop though.

The repair shop was Canon only, and recommended me to go downtown - unfortunately they close at 6 so I went back down hearted.

I rang Nikon however, and they said they would honour the 5 year warranty (even though I didn't apply for it within 10 days of purchase). As you can imagine, I was pretty ecstatic and I think the woman on the other end of the phone was pretty happy for me too! : ))

Then I found the old receipt, almost completely faded in my wallet. I think I will go back to B&H and ask for a new copy - they are pretty good at keeping everything on file by customer.

You can play the same little game in your head when it comes to marijuana , any mexican border town and anywhere around the East Village in New York - chock full of those well meaning kids smoking pot.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

On Friday I mentioned to my pal that my granddad fought in Burma during the war. We were arguing about the necessity of war at about 2AM Friday night.

My point was that although he lived in London he probably didn't have to join the British army (he was Irish). On a personal level he must have felt it was necessary (he wasn't a gung-ho type - one of his ongoing themes was how crazy career soldiers were).

Recently I complained about being a tad bored. My sister suggested I take up a hobby.

Over the past week or two, I have taken up ironing clothes. It's meditative, in a washing the dishes sort of way.

In any case, the only thing that has been unsettling in my overly tranquil world recently has been a sense of sensory overload. I am one of those people that needs media when I am not engaging with people.

Having breakfast I listen to Irish radio. I listen to podcasts going asleep and walking to the subway. I skim my RSS feeds on my phone while sitting on the toilet. MP3s plug the rest of the silence.

I soak up information throughout the day, and, it doesn't feel good anymore. It's becoming information gluttony.

I remember three pals and I went to Bogor in October. We ended up eating at an outdoor stall - and embarrassingly for me, all I could do was think of the hour long train ride back and the possibility of getting the runs. What a whimp!

If you plan to visit Jakarta you need to be sometimes brave, sometimes inquisitive and most of all open minded!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

While on the topic of food, in Bukittinggi Delvi and I had lunch at a Sunda restaurant.

I love Sunda food - I reckon it would go down a storm with hip westerners - it's such a fresh smorgasbord of a cuisine.

In any case Delvi told me how the local Minangkabau never really got Sunda food and the restaurant was mostly empty.

I chuckled to myself. West Java and West Sumatra seem so similar to this person that lives on the other side of the planet. It reminds me of my Korean pal who told me (straight-faced) that Ireland and Germany were pretty much the same.

2) Sate kambing. Which was translated as lamb satay. I am not sure whether it was a translation error or whether they were trying to fool the Westerners - or maybe they were trying to fool the Indonesians (suspect goat meat is hard to find in NYC).

3) Nasi goreng with ikan asin - fried rice with small salty fish.

It was all delish and I was so happy. So much better than the last time i went to an Indonesian restaurant in Queens - Upi Jaya. Although I should really go back to Upi Jaya and make sure it's not as good. Then I'll also go to Minang Asli to be doubley sure which is best : )

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The question is should you dislike him or like him for his promotion of causes. Are Bono and the like vainly trying to prove their worth and greedily self promoting themselves? or are Bono's efforts a net positive?

In any case a pal of mine asked me to promote her charity a little after I made my yearly donation. Why not eh? But to avoid any risk of doing a Bono, I am gonna dredge up some embarrassing story as a confessional ying and yang thing.

Over the past few years I have been supporting POTA. Lieke runs the charity. It's a Christian charity and although I like to think of myself as a strictly kosher atheist - Lieke is deeply passionate about helping the less fortunate in Indonesia.

She has lots of stories. When you hear these stories they draw you in and you feel part of the story.

They're better if you hear them from Lieke in person, but one of them was about a Christmas party they gave to some poor kids. KFC donated all the food. Everything was going well. Lots of fried chicken (Indonesians love fried chicken!!) and good times had by all. Thing was Lieke noticed one boy (or was it a girl?) that wasn't eating his KFC. She was sort of dumbfounded as all the other kids were eating away.

Lieke went over to the boy and asked him why he wasn't eating. He told her that he wanted to save his KFC so he could bring it back to his siblings back home and share it with them.

~~

In New York we don't do KFC we do fried chicken from trendy brunch places and cool divey bars.

~~

Now for the yang.

Last night I got hammered. Made a lot of lewd jokes. Then went on to interrogate this girl (with whom I am semi obsessed) about her ex.

That is too fresh. Let me dredge up something else.

How about the time when we were coming under huge pressure from a hedge fund client of ours. These guys are huge. Their risk was out of whack. I was newly arrived in New York, and was getting phone calls from big wigs.

So anyway, it was getting late and I was trying to figure this out and I had to call up our tech support people. The guy who was supposed to be on duty went home early. I got onto him on his Blackberry and went through him, I was fuming.